Acknowledging the perfect joy of suffering in Christ, but having a little fun along the way.

Total Rip-off Tuesday

Wherein I "rip-off" another writer. Today's choice is John Zmirak, whom I find both hilarious, creative, and rather in-your-face...and I like that:

The prudential arguments Catholics have on subjects such as immigration, welfare programs,
and government spending all too often descend into mutual, willed
incomprehension — in which each side holds fast to its caricature of the
other and insulates itself against learning a scintilla from the
“enemy.” While this is counterproductive, it’s also kind of fun. So I’m
not suggesting that we stop. Or not precisely. As long as we’re pelting
each other with lemons, I’d simply like to step in and make some sorbet.First, to my favorite art form — public detraction. A tea-party
Catholic like me is tempted to begin and end an argument suspecting that
“social-justice” Catholics:

resent not just the rich, but even the middle class;

don’t so much love the poor as they fetishize poverty, wrapping what
is objectively evil (involuntary suffering and deprivation) in the
mantle of St. Francis of Assisi;

blindly refuse to understand how wealth is produced, and how big government gums up the works;

are either hostile or indifferent to the just claims of the thrifty,
the hard-working, and the prudent — hijacking biblical parables like
that of Lazarus to serve their agenda of toxic envy;

recklessly disregard the solemn duty of citizens to make rational,
patriotic decisions about the best interests of their country and their
descendants; and

apply a degrading double standard to the rich and the poor, the
white and non-white — holding the “privileged” to a high, Christian
ethic of selflessness and tolerance but winking at greed, sloth, envy,
and tribal racialism among the less fortunate, as if the latter were
hardly human.

Conversely, social-justice Catholics make it abundantly clear that they believe we tea-party types:

smugly take credit for our comparative success and prosperity, when in fact we have inherited many of our advantages over (say) recent refugees arriving at Kennedy Airport from Kenya;

indulge without compunction in sinful habits fueled by consumerism and materialism;

callously spend our wealth on luxuries and entertainment, which
could otherwise be redistributed to the starving or even the
disadvantaged;

either practice or wink at white racism, unjust male privilege,
American jingoism, and an individualist Protestantism that marked our
country’s founding, and which has been condemned repeatedly by several
popes; and

covertly identify with figures in the Bible such as the rich young
man who “went away sad,” the older brother of the Prodigal Son, and the
workers in the vineyard who’d labored the longest hours — preferring
justice to mercy because in our sinful pride we don’t think we need much
mercy, and we don’t care to dispense it.

Given the fact of original sin, it’s safe to assume that both sides
are right. Let’s grant for the sake of argument that the great divide on
political issues between Right and Left is indeed a confrontation
between the Pharisees and Barabbas. Each of us could stand a political
examination of conscience; a test for the toxins we’ve absorbed from the
world, the flesh, and the devil; and a look at the log in our own eyes.I’m preaching the bad news today to clear away the nonsense that
takes up most of the time in political arguments, wherein we assail each
other’s motives and sternly defend our own. Instead, let’s assume and
admit the worst, get the ad hominem attacks over with, and try to face
the practical problems at hand.